5 Influential Games to Date

Streets of Rage - Megadrive/GenesisUp until this point, the only scrolling beat em' ups I knew of were, Shinobi, Double Dragon and Dragon Ninja.Gameplay comprising mainly of static kicks and punches.I first experienced Streets of Rage when visiting a friend, and was blown away by the combo hits, and the flip-throws; plus the pumping background music...especially at the bosses.Final Fight on the SNES was a similar experience, but Streets of Rage got there first.Truely a game I'll NEVER forget !!

Super Probotector/Contra 3 - SNESOne of the first games I bought on my 2nd hand SNES console. I'd never heard of it. I remember looking at the box cover images and deciding it kind of looked good.Took it home, inserted cart, switched on and started playing. Has to be one of the best side scrolling shooters I've ever played. I think its also one of the first games where I felt drawn in by the atmosphere portrayed in the game. Most memorable part had to be the 2nd or 3rd stage, where you have to climb a wall, whilst being straddled by a giant wall-walking robot.Some cool weapons, excellent background music, and well designed levels.

Jedi Outcast - PCThis was a game I happened upon by accident. Only Star Wars titles I'd played on the PC were the flight sims, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and Rogue Squadron.I'd not conceived of an action FPS Star Wars title, which is what you have with Jedi Outcast.What drew me the most was the tight and compelling storyline. Along with the sounds and Star Wars soundtracks, it added to a complete adventure of a game.Most memorable part and to date my WOW feature, was when you return to the Jedi Academy to meet Luke Skywalker. You aimlessly try to find where to go and up taking a lift and walk through glass passage ways overlooking jedi training rooms.It was when I walked through one training session, where a jedi instructor stands before three seated padawans, then silently beckons to one of them, who stands up and approaches the instructor.After a second they both pull out light sabers and spar, doing all kinds of acrobatics and flips.I couldn't believe what I was seeing !! I thought it was the BEST thing I'd ever seen in a game...still do !! Knowing I'd probably be able to do the same thing at some point in the game, made me want to continue.

Knights of the Old Republic - XBox/PCWhat more can I say about this game. Simply one of the best games full stop !!This was a game where you felt you had an intimate understanding about everything Star Wars, after completion.Like Jedi Outcast, a very well drawn out tale of Jedi vs Sith, with an excellent twist, akin to the events of, Empire Strikes Back.Choices are also important, and you really do feel the impact of them as the game progresses.

Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition - PCThis was another game I came across by accident. I'd heard bits about this game, but not enough to pique my interest at the time. First time playing, was online, rather than practising offline.It was through this game I found out more about the importance of a good quality internet connection. At the time, I was on AOL UK 56k; pings averaging 300ms, which I thought was good at the time.Took me a long time to pick up the skills needed to handle myself in UT. Were times I almost gave up playing because more and more players moved onto cable or ADSL, and I was then one of few with triple digit pings. For some reason, I stuck with it to this day; been over 8 yrs now !!The one word I use to describe UT; Balanced !! In my opinion, it achieves what many similar style FPS games cannot to this day.